Page:Edgar Huntly, or The Sleep Walker.djvu/154

 to the tale; now, in my languishing and feeble state, I shall furnish thee with little more than a glimpse of the truth: with these glimpses, transient and faint as they are, thou must be satisfied.

I have said that I slept; my memory assures me of this—it informs of the previous circumstances of my laying aside my clothes, of placing the light upon a chair within reach of my pillow, of throwing myself upon the bed, and of gazing on the rays of the moon reflected on the wall, and almost obscured by those of the candle; I remember my occasional relapses into fits of incoherent fancies, the harbingers of sleep—I remember, as it were, the instant when my thoughts ceased to flow, and my senses were arrested by the leaden wand of forgetfulness.

My return to sensation and to consciousness took place in no such tranquil scene. I emerged from oblivion by degrees so slow and so faint, that their succession cannot be marked: when enabled at length to attend to the information which my senses afforded, I was conscious, for a time, of nothing but existence: it was unaccompanied with lassitude or pain, but I felt disinclined to stretch my limbs or raise my eyelids; my thoughts were wildering and mazy, and though consciousness was present, it was disconnected with the locomotive or voluntary power.

From this state a transition was speedily effected: I perceived that my posture was supine, and that I lay upon my back. I attempted to open my eyes; the weight that oppressed them was too great for a slight exertion to remove! the exertion which I made cost me a pang more acute than any which I ever experienced: my eyes, however, were opened; but the darkness that environed me was as intense as before.

I attempted to rise; but my limbs were cold, and my joints had almost lost their flexibility: my efforts were repeated, and at length I attained a sitting posture. I was now sensible of pain in my shoulders and back; I was universally in that state to which the frame is reduced by blows of a club mercilessly and endlessly repeated; my temples throbbed, and my face was covered with clammy and cold drops: but that which threw me into the deepest